Screening for osteoporotic fracture risk in south Indian rural population aged 50 years and above using FRAX® Calculator

Osteoporosis is more common in India. The prevention of ‘first’ osteoporotic fracture is better than cure. The central dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) bone densitometer is not widely available, and is expensive. The aim of this study was to screen south Indian rural population aged ≥50 years, for predicting future osteoporotic fracture risk using a simple online FRAX® Calculator. A total number of 48 rural populations (male:female= 25∶23), aged ≥ 50 years, residing at Potheri Village, Kattankulathur, Chennai, India, were studied. The forearm bone mineral density (BMD, g cm⁻²) of each subject was measured using a peripheral DXA (pDXA) densitometer. Using the value, the femur neck BMD was predicted using the published regression equation with good sensitivity. The 10-year probability of future osteoporotic fracture risk was evaluated using a FRAX calculator. It was found that, both major osteoporotic fracture risk as well as hip fracture risk was 1.8 folds greater in osteoporotic females than in osteoporotic males. Further, when applying threshold value (FRAX Score >3%), it was found that 20% (5/25) and 26.1% (6/23) of the males and females were found to be at greater risk for future osteoporotic hip fracture, and hence a suitable personalized preventive treatment is to be started in order to prevent their future bone mineral loss.